Monday, March 17, 2014

CAIR Asks State Department to Allow Fla. Muslims to Return to U.S. CAIR-Florida today called on Secretary of State John Kerry to allow three permanent residents from that state to return to the United States from Russia. In a letter to Secretary Kerry, CAIR-FL said, "the United States is unlawfully preventing three American residents, Umar Taramov, Khusen Taramov, and Khasan Taramov ("the Taramov Brothers") from returning to the United States by making it impossible for them to board a flight from Moscow."

Video: CAIR-FL Seeks Halal Meals for Prison InmatesThe recent court order was praised the Council on American-Islamic Relations as a step in the right direction. "We feel that they should offer the same accommodations to Muslim inmates and all inmates regardless of their religious beliefs," said Hassan Shibly, executive director of CAIR's Tampa office.

Action: Call on GOP Women's Group to Stop Promoting Anti-Muslim SpeakersNational Federation of Republican Women promotes ACT! for America and other hate groups

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 3/11/2014) -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on American Muslims and all those concerned about the proliferation of Islamophobia and other forms of bigotry in our society to contact the National Federation of Republican Women (NFRW) to ask the group to end its support of anti-Muslim organizations and speakers. [NFRW claims to be "one of the largest and most influential women's political organizations in the country."]

CAIR's request comes in the wake of a letter it sent to NFRW leaders asking them to institute internal reforms to end the promotion of bigotry and following an announcement that the Lake Federated Republican Women's Club in Leesburg, Fla. -- an NFRW affiliate -- will host Islamophobe Jonathan Matusitz at an event on Wednesday.

"My colleagues say Islam is a religion of peace. I say it's a religion of pieces -- piece of body here, piece of body there."

"When I see those 'coexist' bumper stickers on cars, I laugh because I think it's ridiculous."

"Anybody with a fraction of a brain should be afraid of Islam because it's a dangerous doctrine."

On February 12, 2014, CAIR wrote to NFRW President Kathy Brugger to seek clarification of the group's views of American Muslims. In that letter, CAIR Department to Monitor and Combat Islamophobia Director Corey Saylor noted, "CAIR researchers have found a troubling trend of anti-Muslim sentiment in materials on your organization's web site and in activities of NFRW clubs."

In his letter, Saylor also wrote:

"NFRW clubs have a record of hosting speakers associated with anti-Muslim bias. The below events, all from 2013, are offered as an illustration:

New York's Nassau County Federation for Republican Women invited key U.S. Islamophobe Pamela Geller to give a presentation.

California's Orange County Federation of Republican Women hosted Steve Martel of ACT! For America to lecture on the 'the true history, doctrines and goals of Sharia-compliant Islamists.'

When Harmeet Dhillon, a Sikh, ran for the position of vice chair of the California state Republican Party, Vera Eyzendooren, president of the San Bernardino County Federation of Republican Women, wrote, 'I was told by one of Harmeet's friends that because of her religion, her loyalty is to the Muslim religion. 'So she will defend a Muslim beheading two men without any hesitation ... she is not Republican.' In a welcome move, the California Federation of Republican Women opposed Eyzendooren's comments."

Saylor followed up on February 18, saying he had subsequently been informed that the Bainbridge Island Republican Women in Washington state -- another NFRW affiliate -- hosted an anti-Muslim speaker on February 12.

The federation has not acknowledged receipt of CAIR's letter or the emails following it up, and has not taken any visible action to end its promotion of anti-Muslim prejudice.

CAIR-NY Holds 2nd Muslim Day at the Capitol in AlbanyMore than 50 members of the New York Muslim community participated in yesterday's 2nd Annual "Muslim Day at the Capitol," a program of that state's chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY).

CAIR Action Alert:Help Defeat New Anti-Free Speech Resolution in MarylandAn attempt is being made to by Maryand Delegate Ben Kramer to pass a newly-worded anti-free speech resolution that labels the American Studies Association, human rights advocates and supporters of the international Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement aimed at challenging Israel's occupation of Palestinian Territories as "anti-Semitic."

CAIR:Anti-Muslim Speakers Popular in Law Enforcement Training (RNS)While Muslim-American activists and media reports have raised awareness about anti-Muslim trainers, occasionally resulting in curriculum reviews and canceled classes, many say the problem persists because there are too few police administrators to properly vet courses and instructors. The consequences, critics add, go beyond political incorrectness and include undermining public safety and obscuring real dangers as police officers chase bad leads based on profiling.

CAIR-FL Says Three Permanent Residents Not Allowed to Return to USCAIR-FL says Russian Authorities reportedly told the brothers- Khusen, Umar and Khasan Taramov that '"the American side" had put in a request to keep them off the flight,' when they tried to board a plane to the United States in December.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Major Muslim Groups Launch New Council at D.C. News Conference

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 3/12/14) – Ten* major national American Muslim organizations held a news conference today at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., to announce the formation of the US Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO), an umbrella group that will serve as a representative voice for Muslims as that faith community seeks to enhance its positive impact on society.

The new national council's first priority will be to build on Muslim citizenship rights by conducting a census of American Muslims to create a database that will be used to enhance civic and political participation in upcoming elections.

Fla. Students Speak Out Against Prof's Anti-Muslim BiasCAIR took its campaign against Matusitz further by releasing a video against the professor. In the video, Matusitz said that he has taught many Muslim students but claimed that they knew nothing about Islam. He also said that "anyone with a fraction of a brain should be afraid of Islam" after explaining that he has also been called an "Islamophobe."...

Katelyn Picard is a humanities senior and Muslim Student Association member who converted to Islam and said many of Matusitz's views of the religion are untrue and skewed. "As a practicing Muslim, who is a convert, this story makes me livid. It makes me angry," she said. "I support what CAIR is doing about Matusitz, although many students and Muslims fear speaking out because they fear they will be lumped with 'extremists' or those that are intolerant of others."

CAIR: New Group Aims to Conduct Census of Muslim Americans (Wash. Times)"This census will create a database that will be used to enhance political participation in upcoming elections," council Secretary General Oussama Jammal said Wednesday during a news conference. "Hopefully, this will give inspiration to American Muslims who are interested in public service to know they have the votes behind them."

CAIR Exclusive:Docs reveal feds may have attended Va. anti-Muslim trainingAn email Guandolo sent on February 17, 2014 stated: "Included in the training are: Several from Fairfax County PD, the [redacted] from the [redacted] of [redacted] and two detectives, Albemarle County deputy, VA state Police, Arlington County and a couple from the military."

If Department of Defense representatives are being paid and receiving training credits to participate in biased and inaccurate anti-Islam trainings, it is at least violating the spirit of the 2012 order.

Fla. Universityto Host Islamophobe Linked to Massacre MilitiaMore detailed objections to [Walid] Phares came from publications like The New Republic and especially, Mother Jones, which reported that Phares had been "a high ranking political official in a sectarian religious militia responsible for massacres during Lebanon's brutal, 15-year civil war."

Background: CAIR Asks Romney to Drop Walid Phares Mideast Advisor (Daily Beast)[CAIR] sent a letter to the Romney campaign late Tuesday calling for the ouster of the candidate's recently appointed foreign-policy adviser, Walid Phares. In the letter, CAIR refers to Phares as "an associate to war crimes" and a "conspiracy theorist," citing ties to a violent anti-Muslim militia.

The Right-Wing Lebanese ChristianAdvising Romney on the Middle EastPhares has reportedly declared that Lebanese Christians were ethnically distinct from Arabs, and during the Civil War he "lectured militiamen, telling them they were part of a civilizational holy war," according to an October investigative report by the U.S. magazine Mother Jones.

Top Romney Adviser Tied to Militia That Massacred (Mother Jones)Régina Sneifer, who served in the Fifth Bureau in 1981 at the age of 18, remembers attending lectures where Phares told Christian militiamen that they were the vanguard of a war between the West and Islam.

CAIR:Anti-Boycott Bills Threatening Academic Freedom Spread to IllinoisThis action taken by the ASA has led to an avalanche of bills at the national and state level that threaten public universities with the loss of funds when their faculty support boycott activity of any kind. The response of faculty, students, and civil rights organizations like CAIR to this threat to academic freedom has been equally strong.

FBI Alleged to Have Sought Mosque Spy (AP)An attorney for an American man who claims he was tortured in the United Arab Emirates at the behest of the U.S. government said Friday that his client is too afraid to try to travel back home. The contention came at a hearing involving a lawsuit filed by Yonas Fikre, alleging the FBI and State Department demanded that he spy on a Portland mosque in 2011, then had him abused in a UAE prison when he refused.

CAIR: New Organization Unites American Muslims in One Coalition (RNS)"This is the dream of every American Muslim, to unify the approach, agenda and vision of the Muslim community," said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, at the National Press Club.

Virginia School Board Candidate Apologizes for 'Jihad' Remark (Times-Dispatch)Hours before attending Friday prayers at a mosque, Chesterfield County School Board candidate Bob Olsen said Muslims he met with previously were so excited about being involved in the campaign that "you'd have thought I was getting ready to start a jihad."

CAIR:Hip Hop for Hope Brings Hobson Jobson to Illini Union (Daily Illini)The concert was hosted by the University chapters of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Arab Student Association. Both organizations seek to integrate Arab culture into the University as well as create a more politically active Muslim-American student body.

MN:Somali Students Adjust to Hibbing (Daily Tribune)From time to time in Hibbing, Najma Mumin, Safia Farah or Hamdi Omar are approached by a curious local with questions. The women are among the few Somalis in the area, and their hijabs — head scarfs worn by Muslim women — stand out among the sea of stocking caps in Northern Minnesota.

Number of Muslim Convertsin US Increasing Day by DayAfter growing up in the Episcopal Church, Caldwell rediscovered his spirituality in Islam and decided to convert. Now, less than a hundred miles from where he was raised, onlookers see Caldwell's prayer as a potential threat. Why might this be?

According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations Minnesota chapter, America's largestMuslim civil liberties and advocacy organization, the closure of bank accounts belonging to Minnesota Muslims of Somali, Middle Eastern and South Asian origin, largely occurred between 2012 and 2013. ...

Though it's not known how many denial-of-banking letters have been issued nationwide, according to CAIR's Michigan office, several members of the Islamic community have had their accounts closed by Chase Bank, which is why Abd Alla says CAIR-MN is "collaborating with other CAIR chapters to bring a national complaint against TCF, Chase and other banks who have violated civil rights laws."

Professor Jonathan Matusitz of the University of Central Florida maintains that "coexistence with Islam is not possible," citing extremist groups responsible for mass violence, including attacks in Syria and Egypt in recent weeks. In a recent public appearance he said Islam is "a religion of pieces -- piece of body here, piece of body there." He will be discussing his views and fielding questions Thursday night as part of the annual President's Speaker Series, which covers topics ranging from aviation to education. ...

Embry-Riddle officials have received a wave of emails over the past few days from people who take issue with his stance. Hassan Shibly, Florida executive director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil liberties group, described Matusitz's statements about Muslims as "un-American."

The Duluth Muslim community has been very helpful throughout this time, even though it is a small group of people. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, Minnesota, was very instrumental in making this happen in a short span of time and has guided me at each step.

CAIR-OK Commentary: Mandating the Pledge of Allegiance (Oklahoma Gazette)Indeed, a true sign of patriotism is to uphold the tenets of the Pledge of Allegiance in ensuring liberty and justice for all and not merely mandating its recital. Upholding our Constitution is the most patriotic thing that we, as Oklahomans of diverse faiths and ethnicities, could possibly do.

Anti-Islam BillsActive in GA, FL, MO; Dead in MSThe latest efforts to ban state court use of international or foreign law, often cited in the context of banning the use of sharia law by state courts, appear to be failing.

Fox & FriendsFoments Fear of Islam with 'Security Expert' from Anti-Islam GroupFox News has been described, in the Center for American Progress' report "Fear Inc.," as an echo chamber for America's cottage industry of Islamophobia. But now that the so called "Ground Zero Mosque" is no longer an issue, the steady drumbeat of Fox Islamophobia has diminished. But it has not totally disappeared as shown by Fox & Friends' recent embrace of a "security expert" from a radical, fringe anti-Muslim group who used his Fox platform to spread more Fox fear and loathing of Islam. It's no surprise that Ryan Mauro, whose work appears on anti-Muslim sites such as Front Page Mag, would be playing the hate card. ...

CAIR-FLCalls for Cancellation of Anti-Muslim Speaker at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (WMFE)Standing outside The Embry-Riddle Welcome Center, CAIR Florida Director Hassan Shibly says he has no problem with Matusitz, but doesn't think he should speak at a school where Muslim students may experience backlash. "He certainly has the freedom to promote fear and hatred, but we must recognize that his promotion against American Muslims is not cost free," Shibly says.

Va. Muslim LeaderResponds to Anti-Muslim Training (Daily Progress)The Islamic Center of Culpeper realizes that religious intolerance and bigotry result primarily from igno rance. That is why we have engaged the Culpeper Sheriff's department (CCSO) in a series of informal meetings to respond to the lies and misinformation of Mr. Guandolo while conveying the true message of Islam.

U.S. Government Sues Philadelphia Schools Over Beard Policy (Reuters)The U.S. government sued Philadelphia's school district for religious discrimination on Wednesday for demanding that a veteran Muslim police officer trim his beard.

Right-Wing Extremism: Germany's New Islamophobia Boom (Spiegel)Across Germany, right-wing organizations are using anti-Islam rhetoric to further their ideas -- and finding a receptive audience. Now legal experts are debating whether it's time for a new kind of hate-crime legislation.

Video: CAIR-MN Rep Interviewed on St. Paul Police Dept. Hijab Policy (TPT)Kandra Mohamed is a new community officer for the St. Paul Police Department. She made history this week by becoming the first to wear the departments approved hijab headscarf. Lori Saroya with CAIR-MN explained to us the role of the hijab in Muslim culture.

CAIR:Dead Men Tell No Tales (This American Life)Last May, a weird story made the news: the FBI killed a guy in Florida who was loosely linked to the Boston Marathon bombings. He was shot seven times in his living room by a federal agent. What really happened? Why was the FBI even in that room with him? A reporter spent six months looking into it, and she found that the FBI was doing a bunch of things that never made the news.

CAIR-FL: FIU's Muslim Students Found a Listening Device in Their MosqueThe students quickly contacted Nezar Hamze, the regional operations director CAIR-Florida. Hamze says he contacted the U.S. Attorney's Office, the Department of Justice, and FIU's campus police. He also says he took the device to a spy store, where a clerk confirmed the gadget was the kind of expensive surveillance device used by the government.

CAIR:A Small Town in West Virginia Responds to Anti-Muslim Sentiment (AJAM)Ibrahim Hooper, the national communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), disagrees with the sheriff's assessment. "This incident is absolutely a hate crime," he said. "You have people writing explicitly anti-Islam statements on a mosque."

MEDIA ADVISORY

U.S. Muslim Groups to Launch New Council with Political Census

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 3/10/14) -- On Wednesday, March 12, eight* major national American Muslim organizations will hold a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., to announce the formation of the US Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO), an umbrella group that will serve as a representative voice for Muslims as that faith community seeks to enhance its positive impact on society.

The new national council's first priority will be to build on Muslim citizenship rights by conducting a census of American Muslims to create a database that will be used to enhance political participation in upcoming elections.

In a statement prior to the planned launch, USCMO Secretary General Oussama Jammal said:

"A national council unifying Muslims in the United States has long been a dream of our community. The goal of the US Council of Muslim Organizations is to help strengthen relationships among the member organizations in order to better serve members of the Muslim community and all Americans.

"A detailed census will allow the larger Muslim community to better participate in our nation's political process."

* Organizations participating in the initial launch include: (More organizations may be added at a later date.)

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

SB 1062 Aftermath: Muslim Group CAIR Upset with Anti-Defamation LeagueADL cited a number of possible discriminatory examples that could occur to various groups if SB 1062 had become law. One of those examples was a Muslim taxi driver possibly refusing service to a Hindu customer.

(MINNEAPOLIS, MN, 3/1/14) – The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN) today welcomed a new St. Paul Police Department (SPPD) policy that allows Muslim employees to wear a police-issued hijab (Islamic headscarf). SPPD recently became the first police department in the state to hire a female Muslim Community Liaison Officer.

"We congratulate Chief Smith and the St. Paul Police Department for creating a welcoming, inclusive environment for Muslim employees," said CAIR-MN Executive Director Lori Saroya. "This decision will enable more Muslim women to consider serving their community through a career in law enforcement."

Saroya said that Muslim women who wear the hijab sincerely believe it is their religious obligation and asking them to remove it is akin to asking them to remove a shirt or other piece of clothing.

CAIR publishes a booklet that outlines basic information about Islamic beliefs that are relevant to law enforcement agencies.

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.